Coming Home

I want to tell you what God has been doing in my heart in the past few months. After the teacher training week I had in December, I began to think about my time here in Jo'burg. I have come to realize that my job here at TLC will not take the full 2 years I signed up for. My job of writing curriculum and training the teachers should only take 1 year at the rate we are going. (That is not to say that the teachers will be experts or the curriculum will be good enough to publish. But I’m merely saying that I will have done all I know to do after one year here.)

So I had to consider God's plans for me. I don’t want to stay here 2 years if I am not needed. And although there are many needs here beyond training and writing the curriculum, the needs are not things that I seem called to do.

I know without a doubt that I am called to work with children. I also am beginning to realize that almost since the moment I stepped off the plane here in Jo'burg I have faced every new challenge and experience with an attitude of “How can I apply this new knowledge when I get home?”

So after praying personally, recruiting friends and family to pray for me, making lists of pros and cons (which always ended with “God's Will” tipping any scale I made), and trying to seek God's will for my future, I have come to the conclusion that I need to come home in July of this year. I don’t know all of the amazing opportunities God has planned for me when I get home, but I eagerly await the opportunity to serve Him in my own home town.

I still have a lot of work to do here in Jo'burg between now and July. I love serving God here and I look forward to 5 more months with these wonderful teachers and children. Please continue to pray that I will find ways to serve God daily. Once again I find myself so caught up in the excitement of wondering what God has planned for my future that I need help to focus on serving Him TODAY.

I must finish this blog by admitting a small sense of guilt. The guilt I feel is because of YOU. I know without a doubt that I have an enormous network of people all across Virginia and the US that are praying for me. From the emails, packages and letters I have received, I have begun to feel that I may be the most spoiled, best prayed for missionary ever. Every time I talk to my family and friends on the phone I hear of someone new that has been reading my blog. I don’t know how many of you are out there praying for me, but I think I would be overwhelmed if you were ever numbered. So my guilt lies in the fact that I will not be using this amazing network of people and their gifts of prayer for more than one year. But I fully expect that you will continue to pray for me and the people here in Johannesburg even beyond my departure in July. Oh I wish I could see you all and hug your necks and thank you for blessing me! May God Bless You Indeed My Friends!